PS 3525 
.1548 

H3 
1916 

Copy 1 




THE 
HAUNTED SENTRY BOX 

OF 

PORTO RICO 



BY 

LEWIS MILLER 





HAUNTED SENTRY BOX, SAN CRISTOBAL, SAN JUAN 



THE 
HAUNTED SENTRY BOX 

OF 

PORTO RICO 



BY 

LEWIS MILLER 



Zbc mnlcfterbocftet ^vces 

NEW YORK 






Copyright, 1916 

BY 

LEWIS MILLER 



L^ 

GI,A427301 

MAR 18 1916 




The Haunted Sentry Box 
of Porto Rico 

By 
Lewis Miller 

IIRECTLY below the old fort of 
San Cristobal, in San Juan, 
Porto Rico, projecting out over 
the sea from a comer of the sea 
wall, is a sentry box. Years 
ago a sentry, placed on duty at this lonely 
post, utterly disappeared, leaving behind 
only his musket and side-arms. His dis- 
appearance was so mysterious that it was 
attributed to sea-devils, and the sentry box 
has ever since been given a wide berth by all 
superstitious natives. 

The same night of this strange incident, a 
priest, the best liked and most admired of his 
sect in the city, disappeared. The only clue 
discovered in regard to his disappearance 

3 



4 XKe Ha\intedl Sentry Box 

was the small gold cross, which constantly 
hung suspended from a chain arotmd his 
neck, found before the door of the corner 
sentry box. 

I heard many stories in regard to the 
disappearance of these two, but all were too 
preposterous to allow any thought of truth. 
At last, however, good luck brought me into 
the presence of a man who knew, and it is the 
story as I heard it from him which I am 
undertaking to recount. 



The proprietor of one of the " tiendas " 
in Mayaguez, Juan Cordo by name, was a 
large, jovial old man full of stories of wild 
adventure, with which every Saturday night 
he entertained a gathering composed chiefly 
of the working men, who, their work over for 
the week, were ready to listen to any tale 
which would entertain them^ — and the old 
storekeeper was a good talker. It was at one 
of these gatherings, to which I was frequently 
drawn by a desire to hear the old man's 
ramblings, that I heard the story of the 
haunted sentry box. 

As usual, the old fellow, who loved to be 



Of Porto Kico 5 

urged, could for sometime think of nothing 
to tell about, but he finally decided on his 
subject and settling back in his chair, began. 
I noticed, however, that he carefully scru- 
tinized the faces of his audience, that is, of 
all except one. But this one was really of 
little importance as he was a late arrival in 
town and scarcely known to any one. As I 
have said, his face was free from the scruti- 
nizing eye of old Juan Cordo, for, coming in 
late, he had quietly seated himself behind the 
story-teller without attracting his attention. 
" My story begins back in the early 
seventies," began the old man in a thoughtful 
and his usual hesitating tone. " The capital 
was the scene of crimes, of immorality and of 
all sorts of disorders. There were good men, 
of course, but even these were often cor- 
rupted. An instance of this was young Pedro 
Delvarez, a soldier, who had enlisted in the 
army when he was but seventeen. He had 
had chances which most of his associates 
had not^ — fine parents, an education, money; 
but he proved unworthy of them all. He 
turned to gambling and fast living, finally 
marrying a young girl, far below him in social 
rank, who married him merely for his money. 
His love for this girl, however, partly cured 



6 Tine Ha-uxitedL Sentry Rox 

him of his wild life and helped him to be a 
better fellow. 

" Although he might have had an officer's 
rank through his father's influence, he had 
enlisted as a mere common soldier due to 
some fool book-notion of working his way up. 
But his habits retarded his progress and at 
the end of six years of service he found 
himself still in the ranks. He made many 
enemies among his rough associates and 
chief among them was a great, strong, 
dastardly fellow named Torcas." 

There was a stir behind the old storekeeper 
as the stranger leaned forward with a gleam 
of interest in his eyes, but I thought with a 
twitching of anger around his mouth. The 
old man apparently did not hear him for he 
continued without looking around. 

" How this enmity began I do not know, 
but it increased daily and finally reached the 
boiling point when Torcas ran off with the 
flighty young wife of his enemy. Young 
Delvarez was heart-broken and attempted 
suicide, but was luckily saved from such an 
untimely death through the intervention of 
good Padre Suarez. This priest had for 
some reason or other taken a great liking to 
the yoimg soldier and had endeavoured in 



Of Porto Rico 7 

every way to help him. It was due to the 
efforts of his clerical friend that Delvarez was 
led back into the straight road and it was the 
kindly advice of this same person which kept 
him from a search for, and probably the 
murder of, his enemy. 

" Life became a mere dream to the young 
fellow, who went to his soldier's duties, 
morose, bitter against the world, and shun- 
ning his companions who he thought detested 
him. He continued in this way for several 
months till one night a crisis was reached. 
He had been stationed on duty at the old 
sentry box with the accusation of * murder ' 
ringing in his ears. A few minutes before, in 
a quarrel, his antagonist had accused him of 
it; the murder of the young, fickle wife, who, 
the preceding morning, had been found dead 
in her bed. He was innocent, but he had no 
friends to take his side in case the law was 
against him, and he had no proofs of inno- 
cence. While he stood looking out over the 
sea, contemplating his troubles, he felt a 
hand placed on his shoulder and turning 
quickly could just discern in the darkness the 
face of the kindly padre. 

" It was a wild night and the noise of the 
sea and wind made hearing difficult, so that 



8 TKe Haunted Sentry Box 

he could scarcely understand the priest as he 
leaned forward and shouted in his ear: *I 
feel sure you're innocent' said the priest, ' but 
the others don't seem to think so. So slip 
over the wall here and get away ; it's your 
only chance because they're coming for you 
soon. Go to some other place, live a clean, 
decent life, but remember, if you ever come 
up against that fellow Torcas don't do any- 
thing, for God will take vengeance on him.' " 

Again there was a stir behind the story- 
teller as the stranger leaned forward with the 
interest in his eyes gleaming brighter than 
before, while the twitching of anger around 
his mouth seemed to have changed to a slight 
smile. Again the old man, unconscious of 
the interest he was arousing, continued : 

" The good fellow had just finished 
speaking when a pistol shot rang out and a 
bullet burned a furrow across Delvarez's 
breast to bury itself in his friend's. Del- 
varez sank to the ground, but the rain 
quickly revived him and he got up, the wound 
on his breast, which was to trouble him 
through life, burning and throbbing. At 
first he thought he was again alone, but his 
foot encountered something, and stooping 
over he found the body of the dead priest. 



Of Porto Rico 9 

Suddenly he recalled his friend's advice and 
determined to flee. 

" Feverishly he undressed himself and 
exchanged clothing with the dead man. Next 
he laid his firearms on the little bench which 
ran around the sentry box, threw the body 
over the wall, and lowered himself down 
carefully after it. There was a spade at the 
foot of the wall, the presence of which at 
that time he did not stop to analyze; but 
later, when thinking over the events of that 
night, he determined it had been brought 
there to be used on him as he used it on the 
dead priest. With it he dug a deep hole 
where he laid the body of his only friend. 
Then he fled away into the night. 

" It was quite late when he reached the 
little house which he had bought when he 
married, and he was tired, but he thought he 
would now probably be accused of two mur- 
ders, so he must get away. He changed 
quickly into his most ragged clothes and 
started off towards another city. How he 
fared for the next few years I shall not 
attempt to relate, but under an assumed 
name, and with the power of his early home- 
training and education, he slowly forged to 
the front. He heard the stories of the 



10 XHe Havrnted Sentry Box 

haunted sentry box and was pleased that his 
disappearance had been so explained. 

" Although to all outward appearance he 
was poor, his new life brought him money 
and in the solitude of his little home he lived 
in comfort. He likewise deceived the world 
as to his feelings ; to his friends he seemed a 
jovial, care-free fellow, but at home he sank 
back into bitterness and thoughts of his 
wrongs. His thoughts often turned to 
Torcas, but he just as frequently turned them 
aside through a desire to follow the last 
words of his murdered friend. 

" It was not until years later when the 
world had nearly banished all thought of the 
sentry box episode that Delvarez, now an old 
man, again saw his bitter enemy. Torcas, 
to his delight, did not recognize him and 
Delvarez immediately started to plan the 
death of his tormentor. He waited and 
waited, but the right time never seemed to 
come and finally the last words of the long- 
dead friend again began to take effect. 
Delvarez became calmer; he looked at the 
unrecognizing man with pure disdain and a 
great confidence arose in him that his friend's 
words would come true, that God — — " 

The story was interrupted by the stranger 



Of Porto IVico II 

behind the old story-teller. With a gurgling 
cry of wrath he had sprung to his feet, his 
right hand, tightly clenched about the handle 
of a gleaming knife, shot upward, while his 
left hand tore the shirt from the storekeeper's 
shoulders, thus uncovering the old man's 
chest, which had a dark red scar across it. 
The knife started downward with terrific 
force toward Cordo's bared body, but not 
into it, for he, with a quick, instinctive, up- 
ward throw of his arm, so changed the course 
of the blade that it buried itself to the hilt 
in its owner's breast. 

The priest had spoken the truth : God had 
taken vengeance. 



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